1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information display control apparatus having an example sentence search capability and a recording medium recording an information display control program.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an information display control apparatus called an electronic dictionary in which several kinds of dictionary databases, such as various dictionaries like a Japanese dictionary, a Japanese-English dictionary, and an English-Japanese dictionary, various glossaries, and an encyclopedia, are installed. This information display control apparatus searches the dictionary databases for entry words corresponding to an input search word and displays meanings or the like of the entry words, and searches the dictionary databases for an example sentence using the input search word and displays a list of the searched example sentences.
There is a technique which relates to such an information display control apparatus and properly displays explanation information of a plurality of words forming a compound word when the compound word is designated as a search word (see, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2004-206538). According to the technique, when a compound word (split verb) ┌abgehen┘ which is the combination of, for example, German words ┌ab┘ and ┌gehen┘ is designated as a search word, explanation information on each constituting word ┌ab┘, ┌gehen┘ is displayed.
However, such a compound word may be used in a sentence with the constituting words combined (hereinafter referred to as “combined state”) or may be used in a sentence with the constituting words separated or split (hereinafter referred to as “split state”). Therefore, the information display control apparatus disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2004-206538 does not search for an example sentence containing a compound word in a split state (e.g., ┌Bei Barzahlung gehen 5 prozent ab.┘) when a search for an example sentence is performed with a compound word in a combined state (e.g., ┌abgehen┘) being designated as a search word, and does not search for an example sentence containing a compound word in a combined state (e.g., ┌in die Ewigkeit abgehen┘) when a search for an example sentence is performed with a compound word in a split state (e.g., ┌ab & gehen┘) being designated as a search word.